While Andretti Autosport and Ed Carpenter Racing had always intended to test at Barber, the test came as a late schedule addition for Chip Ganassi Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing, whose attempts to test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last week were thwarted by cold weather.
Despite running Firestone primary tires, Herta’s time in the morning was just one-tenth of a second off Pato O’Ward’s pole time from last year’s race at the 2.366-mile 16-turn venue in Birmingham, AL, set on used Firestone ‘reds’, although four-tenths off the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy driver’s Q2 time set on fresh alternates.
Herta wound up 0.13sec faster than teammate Rossi who started last year’s race on the front row, and Chip Ganassi Racing Honda’s defending champion Alex Palou, who also scored his first ever IndyCar win at Barber last April.
Rinus VeeKay was the fastest of the three Chevrolet runners, slotting into fourth for Ed Carpenter Racing.
Rookie Devlin DeFrancesco was seven-tenths off Herta, but comfortably ahead of fellow newbie, Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing.
Jimmie Johnson was 1.6sec slower than his fastest teammate, Palou.
In the afternoon, it was series sophomore Romain Grosjean who rose to the top of the times to shade Herta by one-tenth, although his best time was 0.15sec off Herta's best from the morning.
Semi-teammate Pagenaud of Meyer Shank Racing also made gains in the afternoon, to move up to third, while Johnson ultimately turned the most number of laps, at 115.
The teams will now head west for this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, before returning to Barber for the fourth round of the season, held April 29 - May 01.
a.m. | |||
| P | Driver | Team-Engine | FL |
| 1 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport-Honda | 65.93 |
| 2 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport-Honda | 66.06 |
| 3 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 66.07 |
| 4 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet | 66.24 |
| 5 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport-Honda | 66.30 |
| 6 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 66.37 |
| 7 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing-Honda | 66.48 |
| 8 | Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing-Honda | 66.54 |
| 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 66.58 |
| 10 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet | 66.60 |
| 11 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Steinbrenner-Honda | 66.62 |
| 12 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet | 67.50 |
| 13 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 67.67 |
p.m. | |||
| P | Driver | Team-Engine | FL |
| 1 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport-Honda | 66.08 |
| 2 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport-Honda | 66.18 |
| 3 | Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing-Honda | 66.22 |
| 4 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 66.32 |
| 5 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet | 66.40 |
| 6 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport-Honda | 66.40 |
| 7 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing-Honda | 66.55 |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 66.59 |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 66.66 |
| 10 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet | 66.80 |
| 11 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Steinbrenner-Honda | 66.85 |
| 12 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet | 67.30 |
| 13 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda | 67.83 |
